• Home
  • Our Adventures
    • Death Valley >
      • Artist Drive, Death Valley
      • Badwater, Death Valley
      • Ballarat Ghost Town, Death Valley
      • Broken Pick mine, Death Valley
      • Charcoal Kilns, Death Valley
      • Charles Manson Hide Out Barker Ranch, Death Valley
      • Chloride Cliffs, Death Valley
      • Corona Mine, Death Valley
      • Crater Sulfur Mine, Death Valley
      • Devils Golf Course, Death Valley
      • Geologist Cabin, Death Valley
      • Harmony Borax works, Death Valley
      • Ibex Springs Talc Mine, Death Valley
      • Inyo Mine, Death Valley
      • Keane Wonder Mine, Death Valley
      • Keystone Mine, Death Valley
      • Lost Burro Mine, Death Valley
      • Marble Bath, Death Valley
      • Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Death Valley
      • Morning Glory Mine Camp, Death Valley
      • Racetrack, Death Valley
      • Rhyolite, Nevada
      • Russell Camp, Death Valley
      • Ryan, Death Valley
      • Scotty's Castle, Death Valley
      • Skidoo Ghost Town, Death Valley
      • Stella's - Mengel Cabin, Death Valley
      • Teakettle Junction, Death Valley
      • Titus Canyon, Death Valley
      • Ubehebe Crater, Death Valley
      • Warm Springs, Death Valley
      • Zabriskie Point, Death Valley
    • California Gold Country >
      • Alleghany, California
      • Big Springs, highway 49
      • Downieville, California
      • Forest City
      • Kenton Mine
      • Kentucky Mine and Museum
      • Love Falls Yuba River
      • Mountain House Henness Pass
      • Oregon Creek Covered Bridge
      • Poker Flat
      • Sierra Buttes Mine
      • Sierra City, Ca
      • Young America Mine
  • Story Blog
  • Our Company
  • Support
  Welcome to Backcountry Explorers

Backcountry Explorers Old Timer Tales

Snowshoes for Horses

2/13/2018

Comments

 
Horses leaving Forest City, Ca on snowshoes
Team of horses on snowshoes leaving Forest City, California
During the winter months of January, February, and March, one of the unique methods used by the stage lines in the Sierras was to place snowshoes on their horses. This practice started in 1865 as a way for the stage to travel the deep winter snows that covered the early California trails from Marysville to Downieville without the need to wait for spring. These early horse snowshoes were invented by a Sam Wollever Who is buried at Cherokee Flat in Butte County.
Displayed horse snow shoe
Horse snowshoe displayed in Downieville museum.
Wooden horse snowshoe
Very early wooden horse snowshoe
Second horse snowshoe
Horse snowshoe found at Mountain House, Ca
As described in a New York Times article dated January 12th, 1874, the snowshoes were made of malleable iron squares, nine by nine inches with rubber riveted to the bottom of the plate to prevent snow build up. On the other side of the plate a commonly sized horseshoe with a sharp heel and toe with the corks set through holes in the center of the plate with rivets or screws. The snowshoe is fastened to the horse by a clasp with swivel screw holding the riveted horseshoe tightly under the hoof of the horse. The shoes were custom fit for each sized hoof and a team of four horses would take a man two hours to put the shoes on. Earlier shoes were also made of square wooden plates as shown in the middle photo above but were later abandoned due to the snow build up on the wood.
Picture of horse sled pulled by horses on snowshoes
It was said that when the plates were first attached some horses cut themselves but soon learned to spread their feet so as not to interfere. Some would become good snow horses at once while others were incapable of learning how to navigate with the plates. The very first photo above is a picture of a snow-shoe team in action pulling a sled out of Forest City, Ca in the winter with a hotel in the background.
Picture
Teamster Pike Solara mounting horse snowshoes in -1937
According to the San Fransisco Call of February 1, 1906, Horses on snowshoes were also used to haul mail in and out of Bodie, Ca. Snowshoes were used at least up to 1937 by the last teamster, Pike Solara, serving the snow Tent to Graniteville run in Nevada County, California

Picture
Comments

    Author

    Welcome!
    If you enjoy backcountry four wheeling, searching for lost ghost towns and gold mines, hidden Sierra lakes, or a challenging Jeep trail through a narrow desert canyon, we’ll show you some of our favorites. In this blog we tell some of the stories that we have found along the way.

    Happy Trails,
    Pans4au

    Archives

    March 2018
    February 2018
    February 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Exploration

Death Valley
Gold Country

Eastern Sierras / 395
Anza Borrego
Route 66
Western Mojave Desert
Mojave National Preserve
Arizona
Colorado
Utah
Nevada

Our Company

About us
Contact us

Support

Site Map
Links
FAQ
Terms of Use
Copyright  ©  2015  Laymon International LLC   21143 Hawthorne Blvd. #418 Torrance, Ca 90503 
  • Home
  • Our Adventures
    • Death Valley >
      • Artist Drive, Death Valley
      • Badwater, Death Valley
      • Ballarat Ghost Town, Death Valley
      • Broken Pick mine, Death Valley
      • Charcoal Kilns, Death Valley
      • Charles Manson Hide Out Barker Ranch, Death Valley
      • Chloride Cliffs, Death Valley
      • Corona Mine, Death Valley
      • Crater Sulfur Mine, Death Valley
      • Devils Golf Course, Death Valley
      • Geologist Cabin, Death Valley
      • Harmony Borax works, Death Valley
      • Ibex Springs Talc Mine, Death Valley
      • Inyo Mine, Death Valley
      • Keane Wonder Mine, Death Valley
      • Keystone Mine, Death Valley
      • Lost Burro Mine, Death Valley
      • Marble Bath, Death Valley
      • Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Death Valley
      • Morning Glory Mine Camp, Death Valley
      • Racetrack, Death Valley
      • Rhyolite, Nevada
      • Russell Camp, Death Valley
      • Ryan, Death Valley
      • Scotty's Castle, Death Valley
      • Skidoo Ghost Town, Death Valley
      • Stella's - Mengel Cabin, Death Valley
      • Teakettle Junction, Death Valley
      • Titus Canyon, Death Valley
      • Ubehebe Crater, Death Valley
      • Warm Springs, Death Valley
      • Zabriskie Point, Death Valley
    • California Gold Country >
      • Alleghany, California
      • Big Springs, highway 49
      • Downieville, California
      • Forest City
      • Kenton Mine
      • Kentucky Mine and Museum
      • Love Falls Yuba River
      • Mountain House Henness Pass
      • Oregon Creek Covered Bridge
      • Poker Flat
      • Sierra Buttes Mine
      • Sierra City, Ca
      • Young America Mine
  • Story Blog
  • Our Company
  • Support